System and method for near real-time, unsolicited, unbiased demand collection for distributing consumer items

ABSTRACT

This invention is a system for determining non-abstract consumer demand for an item comprising: a user agent, an aggregator and a sales agent for transmitting the quantity price demand information to a supplier computer system, receiving an initial price and quantity of the discrete item being offered by the supplier from the supplier computer system, setting the current price to the initial price, (a) transmitting the discrete item information to remote computer systems that represent the user&#39;s desire for the discrete item, (b) waiting an predetermined period of time, (c) reducing the quantity of items available by the number sold during the predetermined period of time, (d) reducing the current price and performing steps (a), (b), (c) and (d) until: (i) the quantity of items available is reduced to zero or (ii) a sale termination period is reached or (iii) a maximum price reduction has been reached.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed to a system and method for discovering, summarizing, computing, aggregating and displaying sourced object hierarchies in an orthogonal manner. Specifically, this invention relates to the needs of a person to discover and summarize information from disparate sources of information. Generally, it applies to the field of product search and consumer information.

BACKGROUND

Search engines are known in the art. However, these search engines lack significant features resulting in “hit-and-miss” results to the user. For example, a search for “Columbia Outerwear” can result in the user being presented with results for Columbia, South America or Columbia, South Carolina. Further, traditional search engines are a “one-and-done” methodology so that once the search is performed, additional results require an additional search. When the additional search is performed, the results from the first search are lost and therefore not integrated with the results from a second search.

The conventional method for producing stable object hierarchies from disparate sources is to craft three independent processes. The first, often called the “spider”, crawls, or retrieves, large numbers of possible object sources, often in batch storing states for each source in aggregate. A second process is then initiated which summarizes the states of each source, storing an object state summary. Finally, a user-facing process is provided which allows a person to retrieve the object state summary based on identifiers preselected by the process. This method is inadequate for situations when sources cannot or should not be summarized or aggregated in the past. The architecture of the process is itself flawed, as sources which cannot be summarized in the past, for current retrieval, cannot then be retrieved, as the summary process is dependent on a large collection of objects to compare against when building a hierarchy.

Therefore, it is an object of the current invention to provide for a system that performs a real time on-demand, as well as batch based searching for goods or services with specific search criteria, and returns a set of search results that are deduped and can be updated when modifications to the search results occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above objectives are accomplished by providing a system for determining non-abstract consumer demand for an item comprising: a server having a computer readable medium and a processor in communications with a plurality of remote computing devices; a set of computer readable instructions stored on the computer readable medium that, when executed by the processor, provides for: a user agent for receiving query requests from discrete remote computing devices representing a search for a desired good or service, having price criteria and placing the query request on a persistent search queue in response to an indication that the user wishes to make the query a persistent search wherein the query request represents an unsolicited and unbiased willingness to purchase an item at a particular price; an aggregator for retrieving a plurality of query requests associated with a discrete item from the persistence search queue, defining a predetermined number of ranges equally spanning the difference between the highest and lowest price for the discrete item from each query request, determining which range the price of the query request falls and assigning that query request to that range, determining the quantity of items in each range to provide quantity price demand information; and, a sales agent for transmitting the quantity price demand information to a supplier computer system, receiving an initial price and quantity of the discrete item being offered by the supplier from the supplier computer system, setting the current price to the initial price, (a) transmitting the discrete item information to all remote computer systems associated with a query request that represents the user's desire for the discrete item, (b) waiting an predetermined period of time, (c) reducing the quantity of items available by the number sold during the predetermined period of time, (d) reducing the current price and performing steps (a), (b), (c) and (d) until one of the following occurs: (i) the quantity of items available is reduced to zero, (ii) a sale termination period is reached or (iii) a maximum price reduction has been reached.

The invention can include where the sales agent (d) reduces the price to a price that is within the next lowest range of prices and where the aggregator retrieves a plurality of query requests associated with a discrete item from the persistence search queue that have been placed on the search queue within a predetermined period of time. The sales agent can transmit the discrete item information to the remote computer systems associated with a query request to having a desired price in a target range that is below the range where the current price falls and can transmit the discrete item information to user's remote computer systems associated with a query request to the user's remote computer devices associated with query requests that include price criteria in a target range that is one range level below the range where the current price falls.

The invention can include where the sales agent transmits an opportunity to purchase the discrete item for a predetermine period of time and where the sale agent revokes the opportunity to purchase prior to (d) reducing the price.

The invention can include instructions for: transmitting the highest price and lowest price from the subset of query requests, range brackets and query requests in the range brackets to the vendor computer system so that the vendor is provided with a near real-time demand for an item so that the vendor can create opportunity information including pricing and profit outcomes according to the range brackets and query requests in the range brackets. The system con include instructions for: retrieving challenge question information; and associating demographic information retrieved form the challenge question information with the query requests in the range brackets to be considered when creating the opportunity information.

The invention can include storing temporally the highest price and lowest price from the subset of query requests, range brackets and query requests in the range brackets to create temporal information; transmitting the temporal information to the vendor computer system to be considered when creating the opportunity information and receiving opportunity information and transmitting the opportunity information to the remove computer devices.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following description of the invention will be better understood by reference to the following drawings that are incorporated and made part of the written specification:

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of the functional flow of invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the functional flow of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic of the functional flow and data flow of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic of components of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of aspects of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of aspects of the invention; and

FIGS. 7 through 9 are schematics of aspects of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Computer readable instructions, when executed by a computer processor, cause the computer to perform a series of steps to accomplish a specific task and results in useful, concrete and tangible results. These computer readable instructions can be tied to a particular machine or apparatus with the specific purpose of executing the computer readable code for accomplishing tangible results, and represents and accomplishes the manipulation of physical data.

The detailed description that follows may be presented in terms of program procedures executed on a computer or network of computers. These procedural descriptions are representations used by those skilled in the art to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. These procedures herein described are generally a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result when executed by a computer and its processor representing or resulting in the tangible manipulation of physical objects. These steps also require physical manipulations of physical quantities such as electrical or magnetic physical elements and are capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, or otherwise manipulated readable medium that is designed to perform a specific task or tasks. Actual computer or executable code or computer readable code may not be contained within one file or one storage medium, but may span several computers or storage mediums. The term “host” and “server” may be hardware, software, or combination of hardware and software that provides the functionality described herein.

The present invention is described below with reference to flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus (“systems”) and computer program products according to the invention. It will be understood that each block of a flowchart illustration can be implemented by a set of computer readable instructions or code.

Elements of the flowchart support combinations of means for performing the special functions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based computer systems that perform the specified functions, steps, or combinations of special purpose hardware or computer instructions.

The present invention is now described more fully herein with reference to the drawings in which the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

In one description of the invention, the following terms are used to refer to sets of computer readable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computer, solve the technological problem of searching multiple unrelated sites for goods or services simultaneously within a predetermined period of time with task distribution balancing. The invention improves the functioning on the computer itself and the technological field of searching good and services for sale. The following sets of computer readable instructions are used in this specification: user agent, fetcher parser and broadcaster.

In the present invention, an architecture of connected systems works to produce a list of objects related to a query by a user. The query is parsed, producing an array of commands to be executed concurrently by the architecture. As the commands are executed, each system within the architecture produces a new state, or delta, which describes a change to the aggregate state of the system. As each delta is created, it is returned to two parties: the user who initiated the query, and a storage system which aggregates the delta together with all other deltas to produce a new state. The user is notified of each delta as its created, inclusive of the delta of the state produced by the storage system. The user's system in turn aggregates each delta to produce a new state specific for the user.

In one embodiment, the architecture is composed of six independent processes, each capable of executing independently and without regard to the requirement or state of any other process. Each process produces a delta, or summary of the difference between the previous state of the system and the new state of the system. Deltas are returned to any system which provides the producing system its initial command set.

In one embodiment, the process is initiated by a user agent, which provides a set of keywords, or query, or term, of which a user is expecting to discover objects related to that term from a set of prescribed but disparate sources. This user agent itself may be initiated in an on-demand fashion by a user or per a batch scheduled by the system. An example of keywords is shown in the following Table 1.

TABLE 1 Description Price Title URL Vendor Product Rating User Rating Distance from a Physical Location

The query is transmitted to an originating system, which can translate the user's query into an array of commands in the form of HTTP GET request templates. The originating system places each command onto a queue, marking each as incomplete. The queue may or may not be singular in nature, as the originating system can opt at runtime to place the command on one or more queues, depending.

A second system, or fetcher, watches one or multiple queues for commands to be executed. A fetcher may be one or may be many, as the number of fetcher systems required to execute the given depth of commands on the queue may grow dependent on the depth of the commands. One or more fetchers will execute each command on the queue, producing a string of characters. The fetchers can reach to multiple source systems simultaneously and in real-time. The searching can be actual on-demand and in real-time from independent outside sources for any given query in contract to the current state of that which uses self-contained internal databases. This string is compared against previous strings the fetcher has produced for the given source and a delta of the string is produced. This delta is then transmitted to one or many queues.

The fetchers are independent objects that work asynchronously. Unlike traditional systems which house data internal to an environment and access that data when a consumer requests it and/or there's some other system process that requests it, the invention, through its fetchers, reaches out to a variety of external sites, all concurrently, with each fetcher going to a unique source on-demand and in real time and gathering results for the unique query. The fetcher's activities are driven by either, in real-time, by a user queries or by a batch scheduled, system request. Upon either type of request, the system spawns a fetcher for each source provider and the fetchers immediately go out, submit, gather, and return results to the system. Upon return of results, each set is analyzed by a unique parser (e.g. one parser per source engine), another system component. All parsers act in parallel and each parser deconstructs and normalizes its unique set of results for uniform presentation of all results in parallel to the user.

A third system, or parser, watches one or multiple queues for commands to be executed. These commands take the form of string deltas. The parser, which may be one or may be many, examines the string delta, reconstructing a complete string from the delta history of its records, analyzing the resulting string for a sequence of characters which may or may not map to the properties of an object, depending on the construction and contents of the string. The system may produce one or many objects from the command. Each object is placed onto one or many queues.

A fourth system, the broadcaster, watches one or many queues for objects. Each object is retrieved from the queue, and compared against the system's history of all objects, and a delta is produced for that object. A null may be produced if the object has no difference from past objects. When a non-null delta is produced, the delta is placed on one or many queues.

A fifth system, the storage, watches one or many queues for new object deltas. Each delta is retrieved from the queue and compared against the current state of the storage system producing a delta of the differences. This delta is placed in permanent storage. The storage platform places a message on one or many queues describing the current state of the system.

The sixth system, the user client, watches one or many queues for state change messages. These messages are translated into an object set which can be displayed to the user as a list of objects related to their originating term.

This process occurs out of order across numerous simultaneous originating queries, for as many users as have access to the system. Each step of the process is performed atomically, and each step works on the smallest possible amount of data necessary to produce the appropriate delta.

Following is an embodiment that is described by a series of computer readable instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform the following functionality. The steps are listed in linear fashion, but can also be executed parallel to each other and in multiple instances and on a single server or across several servers. The computer readable instructions provide a computer implemented method performed across a series of server systems comprising: (a) an originating service or server receiving a user command; (b) a collection of independent services or servers which perform distinct, atomic operations on a set of data related to the user query; (c) a decoupled system for storing or acting as a queue independent of connection or association with any specific server or service; (d) receiving a command which is translated from a single command or request into multiples of that command for disparate systems; (e) passively transmitting the command set to the items of element (c) through the use of element (b); (f) which acts on the command in an unranked system in parallel to other commands; (g) which acts on the command automatically; (h) which computes deltas for state changes within each system of element (b) without comparing or analyzing any state of any other system within element (b); (i) which produces, in aggregate, a delta of an overall system change in aggregate from all deltas produced from all systems of element (b); and (j) which transmits each delta upon its calculation both to a user and to a permanent storage system.

When a user creates an account with the current invention, the user can enter information such as shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2 USER NAME String PASSWORD String CHALLENGE QUESTION String DEMOGRAPHICS (Age, Gender, etc.) Integer/String CHALLENGE QUESTIONS (Pre- String Determined)

In one embodiment, demographics are discovered directly from the user in the form is direct questions. For example, when creating an account, the user can be prompted to answer the questions “What is your age?”. In one embodiment, demographics can be determined from answers to Challenge Questions. For example, if the Challenge Question is “What is the name of the oldest child?”. It is known that the user has at least one child. This information can be used to determine specific attributes of the user.

Referring to FIG. 1, the process is initiated when a user enters a search request which is then received at 10 by a set of computer readable instructions on a server that when executed by a processor preforms certain functions. The search request is then formatted into a string and the string can be normalized at 12. A determination can be made at 14 whether the search request matches a search request previously entered by any user that was previously cached at 14. If a match is found, the results from the previously received search request are retrieved from cache at 16 and the search request is marked as completed or preformed. If the current search request is not discovered in cache, the search request needs to be performed.

In one embodiment, there are a plurality of fetchers that can perform searches. The computer readable instructions have the ability to periodically check which searches need to be performed and whether the particular fetchers can perform the search at 18. The determination whether the fetchers can perform the search is made by computer readable instructions. If the fetcher cannot perform the search, the next fetcher can then make a determination if it can perform the search at 20.

If the fetcher can perform the search, the fetcher performs the search targeting to the URL that is currently associated with the particular fetcher at 22. A determination is made at 24 whether a predetermined period of time has elapsed such as a predetermined number of milliseconds that, in one embodiment, is less than 1000. If the period of time has elapsed, the results that the fetcher has retrieved from the third party location are received at 26. If the fetcher has not retrieved a specific number of results, it is an indication that the fetcher is underutilized and the fetcher can be re-tasked to look for results at a second URL at 28. If the fetcher does return a predetermined number of results (a sufficient number of results) as determined at 30, the results are matched with previously stored results at 32.

By using a plurality of fetchers, the invention can search multiple sites in parallel, receive results in a non-linear communication, and optimize searching resources by re-tasking fetchers that do not retrieve a sufficient number of results due to such results either not being available from the third party URL or if the third party URL is experiencing technical difficulty or for some other reason that a predetermined set of results are not found. By way of example and not limitation, the following is a specific example of one possible outcome and functional flow of the invention.

A user wishes to search for a SONY Television, priced around $500, with a 27 inch screen in LED. A first fetcher searches for results matching these criteria at URL Amazon.com; a second fetcher looks for results from URL bestbuy.com. When each fetcher discovered 50 results or a predetermined period of time elapses, the fetchers retrieve the results; the results are de-duped and formatted for display to the user. This process provides for quick access to multiple sites for goods and services in parallel without a linear presentation of search results to the user.

When search results are received from one or more fetchers, the results can be matched to previously stored results for the same or similar search request at 32. If there is an exact match found at 34, the search results are updated with a current time stamp. If the comparison of search results does not result in an exact match, a determination is made whether there is a fuzzy match at 36. In one embodiment, a fuzzy match is when two terms of the following parameters match for two discovered items: URL source, Good or Service Descriptions, Good or Service Title and Price. For example, if the attributes of item 1 are “SONY TELEVISION, This is a 27 inch LED Sony Television Flat Screen, bestbuy.com and $389.99” and item 2 is shown as: “SONY, This is a 27 inch LED Sony Television Flat Screen, hggreggs.com, $389.99” a fuzzy match is determined to have been made as the Description and Price are identical indicating that these items are the same and therefore potentially duplicates. A search engine that is the source of information for the present invention is not necessarily the seller of the product. If the search engines targeted by the fetcher provide a title, price, and end seller match then the result is considered a duplicate. If the price and title match from different search engine sources but the seller is different between them, then the results are not deemed duplicates.

If a fuzzy match is determined, the differences are determined at 38 and the information is stored at 40. The search results are updated to remove duplication at 42 and the results are stored at 44. The results are displayed to the user at 46 and a determination is made whether to continue searching, according to user input, at 48. The user can be satisfied with the search results or can rerun the search request or initiate a persistent search that will inform the user when new items (or existing items are modified) to fall within the range of interest of the user. For example, the user may wish to initiate a persistent search for television that is a SONY 27 inch screen and fall under $350 in price. When results are discovered by a persistent search agent, which run periodically, the user can be notified through SMS messaging, text, email or other means.

Referring to FIG. 2, another advantage of the current system is described. Once a user enters a search, including a persistent search, the user is inherently providing an indication that the user would be willing to purchase the described goods or services at or near the price or price range included in the search criteria. Therefore, an indication is given of the willingness and price point of the goods from that user prior to the user actually making a purchase decision. To restate this, a demand curve can be calculated for a good or service using information from potential purchasers based upon the willingness to search for goods or services at a particular price or price range. For example, the following demand can be calculated based upon information from users when requesting searches as shown in Table 3.

TABLE 3 Price Quantity of Total Users Percentage $10 200 36 $20 145 26 $30 110 19 $40 100 18

Additionally, with this information, there is an opportunity for the sellers/vendors/suppliers of the particular good/service or comparable or substitute good/service to liquidate an inventory, but advantageously using this information for differential pricing. The seller can determine if there is market information, such as demand curve information, at 50 of FIG. 2. The vendor can decide to use demand information at 52. Assuming that the vendor has good/service to liquidate, the vendor can develop a sales program that contains stages at 54. Initially, and with the aid of the demand information, the seller can determine to provide a coupon, special sales price or other incentive for the goods at the $40 price point for one user and a $36 price point for a second user. This could take several forms such as a 10% coupon for the first user for a good priced at $44 and a 20% coupon for the same good for the second user, a reduced price for a limited period of time, etc. Effectively providing two different coupons uniquely targeted to each of the users which result in a price reduction equal to that specific user's willingness to pay for that good.

Demand data is aggregated and used to determine a “willingness to pay” to produce insight into consumer market behavior. Couponing is then used according to the individual user's willingness to pay to align specific products at the price levels that specific user is willing to pay. The ability to gather, analyze, and present demand data is unique to this invention. When a user initiates a saved search and enters in their willingness to pay for an item they have effectively identified individual demand for a product. Based on the size of the sample, that data in its aggregate provides a statistically viable demand for that product or category. By way of example and not limitation, for product X, with retail value of $10 you have five users (denoted as User 1 through 5) who have set up a persistent search for that product. User 1 through 5 set prices of $9.00, $7.50, $5.00, $4.00 and $2.00 respectively. This data is used to generate a demand curve for product X. In this example at price point of $9.00, a quantity of 1 unit will be sold, at price point of $8.00, again, a quantity of 1 unit will be sold (e.g. User 1), at price point of $7.00 a quantity of 2 units will be sold (e.g. User 1 & User 2), at price point of $6.00, again, a quantity of 2 units will be sold (e.g. User 1 & User 2 again), at price point of $5.00 a quantity of 3 units will be sold (e.g. User 1, User 2, & User 3), at price point of $4.00 a quantity of 4 units will be sold (e.g. User 1, User 2, User 3, and User 4) and so on and so forth as shown in the following table and graph:

Price Qty $9.00 1 $7.50 2 $5.00 3 $4.00 4 $2.00 5

The sales program can be transmitted to the server containing the computer readable instructions. The computer readable instructions then can transmit the coupon, program price or other information to users that are associated with the demand information. In the first pass determined at 56, the users are provided the program information at 58 and decide to purchase goods or services given this program price or coupon for a predetermined period of time. Therefore, the seller seeks to sell the most goods as possible at the highest price of the demand information. At the second pass at 60, the seller can lower the purchase price (or increase the coupon amount or discount) to attempt to capture the purchases that are at the next lowest price at the demand levels. The discount or coupon is passed to the potential purchaser at 62 and the user is provided the opportunity to purchase for a predetermined period of time at 62. Therefore goods or services are sold at the next lowest level. A third stage at 64 and 66 can also be provided for the next lower level of the demand levels. This lowering of the price (or raising of the discount or coupon amount) can be repeated as shown by 68 and 70 till either the program is over, the inventory is liquidated, or some other termination event represented by 72.

Referring to FIG. 3, a schematic of the invention is shown. A user having access to a user interface provided by computer readable instructions on a server, such as a SaaS, ASP, or other model, can enter search requests and receive purchase opportunities and search results at 74. Information is transmitted between the user computer and the server 76 that contains computer readable instructions, a compute readable medium and is in electronic communications with the user computer and third party sites, external sites, (URL) or servers (Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, etc.) represented by 78. The user causes a search request 80 to be transmitted to the server. At least one fetcher 82 connects with the third party and retrieves results 84 that are directly associated with the current search or results from a persistent search 86. The results are normalized and displayed to the user at 88. The search results can also return not just the goods that were direct matches to the search request, but can include results 90 like, comparable or substitute goods or services to the user. Persistent results 92 can be displayed to the user periodically or as scheduled or requested by the user. Based upon the search request, advertisements 94 that are specifically selected for the user can be presented/displayed to the user. Coupons 96 or 100 can be provided to the user both based upon the information collected from the user as well as at the request of sellers/vendors. No personal identifying information need be shared with sellers or vendors to provide this functionality. When a good or service changes (e.g. a price drops), this information 98 can be provided to the user either on request or as a periodic function based upon the users wishes.

When a vendor computer 102 accesses the server, the vendor can receive demand information 104 that can be used by the vendor for a specific pricing or sales program such as when attempting to liquidate inventory. The server can also transmit pricing and sales opportunities to the vendor at 106. The seller or vendor can transmit a pricing program (coupons, discounts, one time sales prices, etc.) 108 to the server.

The information gathered from the server can also be used by a third party such as marketing research companies 110. Such companies or entities can request marketing information 112 and receive such information at 114. Marketing information can include buying habits, produce search numbers and information, length of search effort by user, purchase prices, search criteria and the like.

Referring to FIG. 4, various components of the present invention are described. Through electronic communications, user computer 116, third party suppliers/sellers/vendors computer 118, market research entity computer 120 and third party seller/competitors computer 122 can communicate with server 124. The server can include a computer readable medium, computer storage and computer readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, included with the server, perform the functionality of the invention. The computer readable instructions can include a user interface 132, database of stored searches, queries, and deltas 134, fetchers 136 and demand/market data 138. The server can be in communications with a plurality of third party sources for discovered goods and services 140.

Referring to FIG. 5, one aspect of the invention is described. A first process 142 is initialed that includes an attribute list of an object; objects can include search results. The attributes of the object can be unique to that object and need not be predefined in the computer readable instructions, but can be created on-the-fly. The attributes of the object are retrieved from the server at 144. At 146, an attribute list for the object that has been previously stored is retrieved. A determination whether the new attribute list and the stored attribute list are the same is made at 148. If there is a difference between the new and stored attribute list, the delta is calculated at 150 and stored.

A second process is then initiated at 152 by the first process. The second process retrieves predicate filters for the attribute list at 154. For example, filters can include price levels, quantity, brand information, shipping location and the like. A set of anonymous functions (λs) are generated in memory from the predicate filters at 156. In this embodiment, the λs are generated in real time and stored on temporary memory rather than being specifically included in the computer readable instructions providing for significant speed in operation and flexibility to generate λs as needed. Therefore, the λs need not be predetermined prior to the execution of the computer readable instructions. An object with these attributes are then processed by the λs at 158. If the λs return a non-zero result at 160, a match is detected at 162 and the user can be notified of the URL where the change has been detected at 164. For example, if the price drops to a certain level, the user can be notified.

Referring to FIG. 6, the server that is in communications with a plurality of remote computing devices 185 can include a set of computer readable instructions that include a user agent 184 that can communications with the remote computer devices. The user agent can receive a query request from the user at 186 and determine at 188 if the user has requested that the search be a persistent search. If so, the search is placed on a persistent search queue at 190. By the very nature of the user using the invention to provide for price criteria that is acceptable, the user is provide an unbiased, unsolicited indication of the users demand for an item.

An aggregator 192 can be included that retrieves a plurality of query requests from the persistent search queue. At 194, the highest and the lowest price for the item is determined from the query results from multiple users. For example, the highest price that a user is willing to pay for an item might be $100.00 and the lowest price that another user is willing to pay would be $50.00 from all the user information in the persistent search queue. From this information one example would have five ranges between these two boundaries: (1) 50.00-59.99; (2) 60.00-69.99; (3) 70.00-79.99; (4) 80.00-89.99; and (5) 90.00-100.00. The determination can then be made for the number of users that have shown a willingness to purchase the item for each range.

A sales agent 196 can transmit the quantity and range information to a supplier (source) computer system 198 at 200. The source can then set an current price to an initial price as 202. The current price and the opportunity to purchase can be transmitted to the users that have indicated a willingness to purchase the price in the highest range at 204 with the highest range being the initial selected tier of users. A predetermined time can elapse at 206 when the item is available for purchase. After the predetermined period of time expires, the number of items for sales can be reduced by the number sold to adjust the available inventory of items for sale at 208. If there are remaining items for sales, the price can be reduced to the next lowest range at 210, otherwise the process ends at 212. When the minimum price is reached, the process ends at 214. If there are items available for sale and the minimum price has not been reached, the adjusted price is send to the selected tier (the next lowest tier on one embodiment) and the process returns to 204. Therefore, the supplier (source) can dispose if its inventory based upon a structure tiered pricing schedule according to near real-time, unbiased, unsolicited information from users that have indicated a real intent to purchase.

In one embodiment, users are requested to include challenge questions associated with their log in information. For example, the question can be selected from a group such as “What year did you graduate high school?”, “How may children do you have?”, “What year did you get married?”, “What is the initial of your wife/husband?”. From these challenge questions, demographic information can be determined about the user such as age and parent status. With this information, the demographic information can be used to further define the grange brackets. For example, the range brackets can be defined as the users that are between the ages of 25 and 50 that are willing to pay more than $60.00 for the item. With the quantities of these ranges known, the source can set a price for the item that optimizing the profit when considering the price point, demand and supply of the item. This decision by the source can be transmitted to the server as opportunity information. Further, when the range brackets are determined over time, the quantity that is associated with each range bracket will change. This change shows the behavior pattern for the plurality of users. For example, X number of user were willing to purchase item A at $150.00 within the week of its release. Two weeks after its release, Y, where Y<X, were willing to purchase the item at $100.00. Therefore, the source can use this information for comparable release of an item and price the goods in anticipation of the change in demand.

Referring to FIG. 7, the invention can include filtering by tags by using tab 234, filtering by price 236, filter by product (item) at 238 and filtering by source (external site) at 240. A list of tags can be displayed as extracted from the research results at 242 and the tags can be given the status Must Have 244, Want 246 and Don't Want 248. Sorting options 250 are also provided. The user can enter the search at 188 and select the persistent search as 194.

Referring to FIG. 8, when the user wishes to select specific item searches (external sites), the use is provided with a list 252. Further, option for categories of sources can be selected such as stores, auction and classifieds. Each of the sources can include its own fetcher or set of fetchers.

Referring to FIG. 9, a graphical representation 254 showing a distribution of the items in the search results organized by price is shown. In this embodiment, the bar graph is used to show the number of items discovered at a particular price. By providing this information, the user is much better able to refine the search to provide results more closely meeting the user's desires and requirements. The user can adjust the price range at 256. When the search results is displayed in price order, the information available to the user for modification to the search is enhanced.

It is understood that the above descriptions and illustrations are intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Other embodiments as well as many applications besides the examples provided will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the above description. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined not with reference to the above description, but should instead be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. The disclosures of all articles and references, including patent applications and publications, are incorporated by reference for all purposes. The omission in the following claims of any aspect of subject matter that is disclosed herein is not a disclaimer of such subject matter, nor should it be regarded that the inventor did not consider such subject matter to be part of the disclosed inventive subject matter. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for determining non-abstract consumer demand for an item comprising: a server having a computer readable medium and a processor in communications with a plurality of remote computing devices; a set of computer readable instructions stored on the computer readable medium that, when executed by the processor, provides for: a user agent for receiving query requests from discrete remote computing devices representing a search for a desired good or service, having price criteria and placing the query request on a persistent search queue in response to an indication that the user wishes to make the query a persistent search wherein the query request represents an unsolicited and unbiased willingness to purchase an item at a particular price; an aggregator for retrieving a plurality of query requests associated with a discrete item from the persistence search queue, defining a predetermined number of ranges equally spanning the difference between the highest and lowest price for the discrete item from each query request, determining which range the price of the query request falls and assigning that query request to that range, determining the quantity of items in each range to provide quantity price demand information; and, a sales agent for transmitting the quantity price demand information to a supplier computer system, receiving an initial price and quantity of the discrete item being offered by the supplier from the supplier computer system, setting the current price to the initial price, (a) transmitting the discrete item information to all remote computer systems associated with a query request that represents the user's desire for the discrete item, (b) waiting an predetermined period of time, (c) reducing the quantity of items available by the number sold during the predetermined period of time, (d) reducing the current price and performing steps (a), (b), (c) and (d) until one of the following occurs: (i) the quantity of items available is reduced to zero, (ii) a sale termination period is reached or (iii) a maximum price reduction has been reached.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the sales agent (d) reduces the price to a price that is within the next lowest range of prices.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein the aggregator retrieves a plurality of query requests associated with a discrete item from the persistence search queue that have been placed on the search queue within a predetermined period of time.
 4. The system of claim 1 wherein the sales agent transmits the discrete item information to the remote computer systems associated with a query request to having a desired price in a target range that is below the range where the current price falls.
 5. The system of claim 4 wherein the sales agent transmits the discrete item information to user's remote computer systems associated with a query request to the user's remote computer devices associated with query requests that include price criteria in a target range that is one range level below the range where the current price falls.
 6. The system of claim 4 wherein the sales agent transmits an opportunity to purchase the discrete item for a predetermine period of time.
 7. The system of claim 4 wherein the sale agent revokes the opportunity to purchase prior to (d) reducing the price.
 8. A system for determining actual or near real-time consumer demand for items including a server having a computer readable medium and a processor in communications with a plurality of remote computing devices and a set of computer readable instructions on the computer readable medium that, when executed by the processor, provide computer readable instructions comprising: retrieving a plurality of query requests from the computer readable medium each associated with a persistent search for a discrete item; creating a plurality of range brackets equally spaced between highest and lowest price for the discrete item taken from the plurality of query requests; assigning each query request to a range bracket; determining the quantity of items in each range bracket; transmitting the quantity of items in each range bracket to a vendor computer system having items for sale; receiving an initial price and available quantity of the items being offered by the vendor from the vendor computer system; setting the current price to the initial price (a) transmitting the item information to all remote computer systems associated with query requests that represent the user's desire for the item; (b) waiting a predetermined period of time; (c) reducing the quantity of items available by the number sold during the predetermined period of time; (d) reducing the price; and, performing steps (a), (b), (c) and (d) until one of the following occurs: (i) the quantity of items available is equal to zero, (ii) a sale termination period is reached or (iii) a maximum price reduction has been reached.
 9. The system of claim 8 wherein the set of computer readable instructions include instructions for reducing the price to a price that is within the next lowest range bracket.
 10. The system of claim 8 wherein the set of computer readable instructions include instructions for retrieving a plurality of query requests associated with a discrete item from the computer readable medium that were stored on the compute readable medium within a predetermined period of time.
 11. The system of claim 8 wherein the set of computer readable instructions include instructions for transmitting the discrete item information to remote computer systems associated with a query request that includes price criteria in a target range that is below the range where the price criteria falls.
 12. The system of claim 8 wherein the computer readable instructions include instructions for transmitting an opportunity to purchase the discrete item for a predetermine period of time.
 13. The system of claim 12 wherein the computer readable instructions include instructions for revoking the opportunity to purchase prior to (d) reducing the price.
 14. A system for determining actual near real-time consumer demand for goods or services having a computer readable medium with a set of computer readable instructions that, when executed by a processor included with the server, provide steps comprising: receiving a plurality of query requests including a desired purchase price asynchronously from a plurality of remote user computer devices in communications with the server including the desired purchase price representing a user's willingness to purchase an item at a certain price; storing the plurality of query requests on a query request queue on the computer readable medium; retrieving a subset of query requests from a query request queue stored on the computer readable medium that have been received within a predetermined period of time; determining the highest price and lowest price from the subset of query requests; creating a plurality of unique range brackets between the highest and lowest price from the subset of query requests; and, associating each query request in the subset of query requests with a range bracket.
 15. The system of claim 14 including: receiving opportunity information from a vendor computer system representing the quantity and price tolerance of items available for sale; (a) determining the range bracket associated with the highest price according to the opportunity information; and, transmitting display opportunity information to the user's remote compute devices having query requests that are associated the range bracket from (a) so that the user associated with the range bracket of (a) is provided an opportunity to purchase the item at the user's desired price.
 16. The system of claim 15 wherein the opportunity information include information terminating the ability to purchase the item after a predetermined period of time has elapsed from transmitting display opportunity information to the remote computer devices.
 17. The system of claim 16 including: determining the range bracket associated with the next highest price from (a) according to the opportunity information; and, transmitting display opportunity information to remote computer devices having query requests that are associated the next highest range bracket from (a) so that the user associated with the next highest range bracket of (a) is provided an opportunity to purchase the item at the user's desired price.
 18. The system of claim 15 wherein the opportunity information includes information terminating the ability to purchase the item after a predetermined period of time as elapsed from transmitting display opportunity information to the remote compute devices.
 19. The system of claim 15 including: displaying the quantity available according to the opportunity information; receiving purchase information from the vendor computer system; reducing the quantity available according to the opportunity information; updating the opportunity information; and, transmitting the updated display opportunity information to the user's remote computer device.
 20. The system of claim 14 including: transmitting the highest price and lowest price from the subset of query requests, range brackets and query requests in the range brackets to the vendor computer system so that the vendor is provided with a near real-time demand for an item so that the vendor can create opportunity information including pricing and profit outcomes according to the range brackets and query requests in the range brackets.
 21. The system of claim 20 including: retrieving challenge question information; and, associating demographic information retrieved form the challenge question information with the query requests in the range brackets to be considered when creating the opportunity information.
 22. The system of claim 20 including: storing temporally the highest price and lowest price from the subset of query requests, range brackets and query requests in the range brackets to create temporal information; and, transmitting the temporal information to the vendor computer system to be considered when creating the opportunity information.
 23. The system of claim 22 including receiving opportunity information and transmitting the opportunity information to the remove computer devices. 